How Did They do That?

How Egyptian skill kept the dead protected for millennia – including the most famous mummy of them all, Tutankhamun

ILLUSTRATION: SOL 90 X1, GETTY X4

Ancient Egyptians believed that eternal life after death could be attained, but only if they had been properly prepared. So as early as the fourth millennium BC, the process of mummification transformed the dead into a vessel, which their ba (soul) could recognise.

Yet in sending a body to the afterlife, the Egyptians succeeded in preserving them on Earth until their civilisation was long gone. Just look at the ‘Boy King’, Tutankhamun.